Nature's Ways: Sharing space

Every summer there are complaints about sharing the beach. Sometimes it’s about sharing the beach with the birds, sometimes the seals and lately, the sharks.

Many times it is about our fellow human beings that plop down next to us, blast loud music and toss random balls in our direction when we least expect them. Whether it’s about birds or humans, it comes down to sharing.

As a person who loves to be on the beach alone or with only a few other quiet walkers, I can relate. I tend to be more on the side of the birds than the big, double tired vehicles but there’s a place for all of us. It’s just difficult to know how to work that out.

The other day I was talking with someone who misses hearing the whip-or-wills she used to hear at bedtime when she was a child. I used to hear them, too, but it’s been years now since I’ve heard one.

Habitat destruction is the cause of many changes in local nature. It happens so pervasively that many of us have tuned it out but it still creeps across our land. Much of the Cape is as built up as it can be and now people are eyeing parts of the protected lands as space they wish to capitalize on.

We are seeing this nationwide and worldwide, so it is no surprise that we hear grumblings here. People want what they want and some think money entitles them to take whatever they want. It doesn’t.

Sometimes those with no money win, or deserve to win. That includes the flowers, the bees and the worms, without which we’d be hungry. Very hungry.

Finding balance on the best of days can be hard but when it involves things like a beach or our homes, people can get a bit defensive. Some get greedy and a few throw destructive tantrums.

We seem to have lost our sense of balance when it comes to nature. We resent birds doing what birds do because it limits our access to tearing up the beach with our vehicles.

Back in the day only a few drove out on the beach in much smaller cars, trucks and campers. Today, some beaches look more like parking lots than beaches, something that always makes me wonder what the appeal is. People say it’s to get away from it all but there they are parked up next to each other, crammed on a sandbar like sardines in big metal cans.

People don’t like being told where to walk and where not to walk. They want to use poison if they feel like it and they want to cut down all the trees for a view. They want their pets to be free to run where they like and some even allow their children to treat tadpoles and minnows like toy missiles.

They don’t care if this interferes with the wellbeing of others.

This lack of a sense of sharing worries me. I see children growing up with no sense of nature other than as their personal playground. I see adults stomping on spiders and hear stories of people cutting snakes in two with shovels.

Rat poison is being put out with no concern for the harm it causes in the food chain, and gardens that should be pollinator friendly are now luring in those same pollinators to their death due to the overuse of insecticides.

Many of us seem to have forgotten that we are stewards of this one earth we have. We are here to share the bounty, not abuse it.

Sometimes doing what is best for all means we can’t always do what we want in a given space. Sometimes we have to be patient and wait for our turn. Some days we have to be empathetic and compassionate toward those who have no voice or vote of their own.

In the end, if we don’t all share, there will be nothing left to share at all.